Google's new One Pass service to assist publishers to sell digital content may allow publishers keep 90 percent of subscription revenue - making it an attractive alternative to handing over 30 percent to Apple.

Just one day after Apple launched its subscription modelGoogle's CEO Eric Schmidt has announced Google One Pass, a payment system that will give publishers flexibility with both pricing and method of delivery for digital content.

According to the Google Blog:

With Google One Pass, publishers can customize how and when they charge for content while experimenting with different models to see what works best for them—offering subscriptions, metered access, "freemium" content or even single articles for sale from their websites or mobile apps. The service also lets publishers give existing print subscribers free (or discounted) access to digital content. We take care of the rest, including payments technology handled via Google Checkout.

This video summarizes the One Pass advantages:

As far as readers are concerned the purchase-once, view-anywhere functionality of the new service will enable them to access their content on tablets, smartphones and websites using a single sign-on with an email and password.

Although Google's announcement doesn't specify how much of a cut it would take from publishers using One Pass, an unnamed publisher is quoted on mocoNewsas saying that Google planned to undercut Apple by keeping only 10 percent of subscription sales.

Another website suggests that Google will only retain the 2% fee it normally retains as a service fee for billing via Google Checkout. This would indeed make it an attractive proposition.